Elives at Braås primary school in Växjö are no longer allowed to shower with shampoo or soap after PE lessons.
The parent Tina Hultqvist rages against the ban and has started the hashtag “shower drive” on Instagram in protest.
– I thought it was a joke from the beginning, says Tina Hultqvist.
In a written message to the parents at Braås and Dädesjö school, the principal writes that the decision has been taken from a safety perspective. Shampoo and soap in the shower can lead to slip accidents, says the principal.
“The decision was taken from a primarily safety perspective. We and other schools make the same assessment that it is not uncommon for students to tend to play with the soap in the shower room, which makes it slippery and can lead to accidents.”
“At the moment, the decision has been made for the entire primary school and we see that this is otherwise working well,” concludes the principal’s message.
Tina Hultqvist learned of the news through her son, who refused to pack shower soap with him to the sport, citing that it was banned.
– I thought it was a joke from the beginning. “You can take the shower cream with you to school when you do gym,” I said, Tina says.
Tina Hultqvist.
Tina Hultqvist.
Photo: Private
Asking for a tougher grip
At a parents’ meeting, Tina questioned the ban to the school’s principal. She says that the other parents were surprised when they heard about the ban.
– All parents were completely unaware that this existed as an underlying rule, that there should be no shower cream in the gymnasium.
Tina believes that the soap and shampoo ban is just an excuse because the teachers don’t dare tell children who misbehave and mess up in the shower after sports. She sees it as symbolic that the school no longer dares to take tough measures.
– There are a lot of injuries both outside and inside the school that are more dangerous than shampoo, she says.
TV4 Nyheterna has contacted the principal, Linda Eriksson, who defends the decision in an interview with SVT Småland:
– Partly it is about the risk of injury when many students have to shower in a short time. In addition, we don’t see the need to use shower soap when they are so young, says principal Linda Erlandsson.